GAME · released

Kerbal Space Program

Squad · Private Division

Quick read

Kerbal Space Program is a rocket sandbox: fail in orbit, iterate the craft. The explosion is the lesson, and the save is a vehicle file you will fly again.

What kind of game is it?

Engineering creativity. You stack tanks, you stage a booster, you watch arithmetic become a fireball. The explosion is the lesson. Factory games share the optimisation loop and then swap orbit for throughput numbers.

Who is it for?

For players who enjoy stacking tanks until the rocket does what they meant.

How it plays

Loop: Optimizing a factory
Sessions: Long sessions
Progression: A world that stays
Players: Single-player
Structure: Systemic
Tone: Comedic · Challenging

Game DNA

What playing it feels like, out of 100. Our reading, separate from Steam reviews.

Progression80
Estimate
Social18
Estimate

Key Steam facts

Steam store figures, checked 17 Aug 2026.

Release

released

2015-04-27

Review score

95.6%

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Steam positive percent.

Review count

145,977

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Store price

€36.99

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Languages

Demo

Early Access

Players

Single-player

How many people play Kerbal Space Program?

Estimates from public Steam data, not figures from the studio. Ranges, not exact numbers.

Estimated copies

3.6M – 8M

Steam reviews × 25 to 55. For a free game: players, not sales.

All-time peak players

23,459

Most people playing at the same moment, per SteamCharts.

Average players, Aug 2026

3,468

Peak that month: 5,216.

Median playtime

26.5 h

Half of 300 recent reviewers played 12.4–69.8 h. 2% under 2 h.

Players over time

Sept 2023Aug 2026

Where the players are

Languages of the last 300 Steam reviews. A proxy for regions, not a country split.

English65%
Russian10%
Simplified Chinese6%
Spanish (Spain)3%
Turkish3%
Portuguese (Brazil)3%

Steam data checked 4 Oct 2026

What makes it different?

A craft file sits where a run seed would be. The factory games share the optimisation loop. None of them will tumble when the engines light, which is most of the appeal here.

Core mechanics

Similar games

Full games-like page →

People Playground

A physics sandbox where you build, break and burn ragdolls. No fail state: the scene stays up while you keep experimenting.

Open →

Dyson Sphere Program

You scale belts until the star is a machine. Combat is not the pitch.

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Forge Industry

Forge Industry is a factory builder: you chain machines into belts and raise throughput on a map that never fights back.

Open →

shapez

Shapez is an abstract belt puzzle that becomes a factory.

Open →

Related games

Nearby games. Not always a direct substitute.

Shared: Physics

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

TABS is a wobbling army sandbox: place units, start the battle, and laugh. A unit is a joke, a battle is a clip, and the skill ceiling is whether you stopped giggling.

Open →

Shared: Physics

Rain World

Rain World is an ecosystem you do not top: hibernate before the rain, or the world eats you. Creatures have errands. You are food that learned to jump.

Open →

Genre / subgenre

Steam genre: simulation.

Related rankings

Best solo indie games on Steam →

Sources

Store price checked 17 Aug 2026.

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